Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-12-04

DilinQen, and Blindheim Tor Blenheim),
and Lauingen, and other places around
Dilingen, and withal good for the soul
and the pocket of q printer, TO publish
Qodly and devout books which people
would buy. The works OF st. Bernard
of Clairvaux have been of great
benefit to mankind in many ways
and among mankind to many pub
fishers. So Sebald Mayer published
little book containing a translation
into Bavarian German Of the Meditd-
tions of st. Bernard, and also his work
De intcriori dOmo. A copy Of this book
was on the top of the pile. 1t was this
she had looked at. She was Bavarian
girl, well educated for the time, accom-
plished, pure in heart, and lovely, as are
all young girls of pure heart now and
always. She was pretty-that | know
for, as have said, saw her ghost. One
day. whether on a Christmas or Easter,
or on her fote day or her marriage, some
one gave her for a present this book.
For It is not likely that young woman
then, any more than nowadays, would
go TO the publishers and buy book Of
solemn religious counsels. Such books
are mostly given to young people. They
don't buy them. Perhaps the printer
had on hand some bound copies. Per
haps the giver had to send it to the
binder for its rich and useful binding.
II is probable that this copy was sent all
the way across the country TO Wittem-
berg to be bound, for some of the dies
used On it seem to be those known rs
used by Wittemberg bookbinder.
1t is bound in thin but strong wooden
boards, with bevelled edge. covered with
dark, polished leather, in which are I'M
pressed exquisitely- engraved devices,
foliage, and arabesques, and many little
heads in sharp relief, of renowned an
clients, Ovid, Virgil, Cicero, and others.
Among the many specimens OF such
bindings in my library this book is the
most perfect. On the first co er, in in
taglio, within fiat space left at the top,
is impressed q name, and at the bottom
the date 1860.
You say it is very slight material on
which to build the imagination of life.
Possibly so. But we are not likely to
get much other help to know about her,
and we viii keep on imagining. She
never read much in the book 1t is in
absolutely pure, unsoiled condition. l
never saw book three hundred years
old in such condition. There is not a
spot on q leaf, not a scratch on the bril-
liant cover. 1t looks as il purchased
yesterday from bookseller.
She valued the gift, and wrapped it
up in silk and laid it away. You may
suggest to yourself many possible rea-
SONS for its wonderful preservation. Per
haps he who gave it died, and she kept
1t the more carefully; aud once in a
while, when she was al old woman, I'M
covered and showed it TO the young peo-
pie Of the next, and the next generation.
Perhaps she herself died in the flush of
youth, and this, with other of her posses
sions, was laid away and was, like her,
forgotten. Certain it is that albeit men
and women of those days mourned as they
mourn now, nevertheless there came a
day when the dead were wholly for
gotten. For one and another and an
other who had loved and who lamented
them ceased to weary with the WEAKNESS
OF this lies paintings and griefs. All
griets, like all joys in this world, sink
into one common universal calm, and
new joys aud griefs occupy new genera
tons. 1t may be that to-day nowhere
on the earth remains anything, any me-
mortal, any relic, whereby to suggest the
existence over OF the German girl who
died three hundred years ago, except
this her book, stamped with her name,
which mas drifted across the ocean into
New Workers. library.
How very calm and quiet and serene
and peaceful that book and name look.
when you remember that the printer and
binder and owner have certainly been
dead nearly three centuries, while the
world has been crashing along, and other
names by millions have been illumi
mated by lightning flashes and lost in
black oblivion. Isher grave ut Dilingen
The troubles of trOublous world have
sounded loud above her. Did she hive
to see Donauworth, little way off, grow
rampant in Protestantism III 1907, and
the Thirty Years War begin. when Maxi
milan With bis army degraded the town
and abolished her religion? She was
very quiet dust a hundred years later
when Marlborough stormed and took the
Schellenberg. and a month or so after
ward when tine pride of France and Ba-
varia went down in a sea Of blood at
Blenhem. Much has occurred at and
around DilEngen. The tides of war
have Numbered over her grave, adj
vancing, receding, again and again, as
the passionate ambitions OF men and ma
tons have raised the floods in France
and Germany. But her little book re-
mains-fresh, clean, perfect-its small
clasps opening and closing sharply as
they did to her fingers. the thoughts of
st. Bernard glowing witbin it, the dedi-
cation Of the printer Sebald Mayer to
Dem Welgebomen Herren Herr VIII
halmen," councillor OF the Holy Roman
Empire, at the beginning, and on the out
side her name.
Are not the great events of the worlds
history after all very small affairs when
such shadows as thoughts III ink and
names in stamps endure so perfectly
from age to age, while empires change
ana powers CONF 10 uhuBul may bOl
one imagine such shadows to change
into visible presences in the freight Of
q library II this newest of countries?
SO the night went on with the crea-
tons of imaginahons around me. In
the morning all were gone. and am
bound To confess that 1t now seemed very
doubtful whether there vas even ghost
of a fact On which TO found them. For
in the clear sunlight / read letter S on
the book, which in the freight had
escaped me. This was the inscription
rs visible 10y daylight; S. AGNES
HEFFLERLN, 1860. is it a girls name?
or is it old Bavarian for est Agnes
helper? and did the book ever belong
to any Agnes? Settle it for your own
mind. / don't care how. | saw the
ghosts ali the same.
Afghan Traits.
Contemporary Review.l
BcdqI, or revenge, is the soul Of
Afghan life. All the history of Afghan
. / a..